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Articles on Cyclone Pam

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More frequent disasters – such as Cyclone Pam which struck Vanuatu this year – will leave Pacific islands struggling to recover. Edgar Su/Reuters

Pacific islands are not passive victims of climate change, but will need help

As Prime Minister Tony Abbott attends the Pacific Island Forum summit today, attention has again turned to how the low-lying islands will deal with global warming.
One of tens of thousands of homes and buildings blown over across Vanuatu by Cyclone Pam in March 2015. AAP Image/ Kris Paras

Rebuilding a safer and stronger Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam

One of the most hotly debated questions in Vanuatu has been about how communities can rebuild so that they are safer and more resilient to future cyclones. That’s not as simple as you might think.
People in Vanuatu were quick to make the most of the resources they had after Cyclone Pam hit their homes – including these boys, Manu and Leo, photographed a week after the cyclone at a school housing residents evacuated from Teouma. AAP/NEWZULU/Jeff Tan

100 days since Cyclone Pam, people across Vanuatu pause to reflect on loss and resilience

This Sunday marks 100 days since Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu, with ceremonies in villages across the nation to mourn the 11 people who died. Meanwhile, islands left brown in the aftermath are green again.
Vanuatu has a well-co-ordinated disaster response system but limited material resources. Medical support is needed when a disaster like Cyclone Pam strikes. EPA/UNICEF

Beyond Cyclone Pam: identifying Vanuatu’s strengths and needs

The people of Vanuatu have always had to cope with extreme weather events, but natural disasters on the scale of Cyclone Pam test their strengths and leave areas of vulnerability exposed.
It’s hard to know for sure what role climate change played in the intensity of Cyclone Pam. AAP Image/Dave Hunt

FactCheck: is global warming intensifying cyclones in the Pacific?

A causal relationship between cyclone behaviour and anthropogenic global warming is a very real possibility. But most climate scientists hesitate to attribute any single event to global warming.
Vital but routine public health measures are often compromised in the weeks following natural disasters. UNICEF

Cyclone Pam aid efforts should keep future disasters in mind

Any public health assessment of Vanuatu should include the identification of immediate needs and associated risks, as well as put in plans for mitigating future natural disasters.
Australian has moved swiftly to fly relief aid and personnel to Vanuatu but has been less responsive to Pacific Islanders’ pleas to act on climate change. AAP/Dave Hunt

Vanuatu disaster exposes limits of Australian internationalism

While Australia’s leaders express concern for the people of Vanuatu, the welfare of poor states is a commitment from which Australia is walking away.

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